How to delete your Google search History

2/27/2012 .... by Kim Komando

Q. Hi Kim. My friends have been telling me to delete the search history from my Google account before it's too late. I guess Google is changing its privacy policy soon. I don't know how to do that and I'm not even sure I should be concerned. I know you'll give me the straight story, though. Thanks!
-Matt of Rochester, NY, listens to my national radio show on WHAM 1180 AM.

A. I'd say a little concern is warranted, Matt. Google has been thumbing its nose at online privacy lately.

The search giant recently admitted bypassing the privacy controls in the Web browsers Safari and Internet Explorer. Google did it to track users' online activity and generate advertising revenue. Find out how to protect your browser from this type of tracking.

Google's unified privacy policy, which takes effect Thursday, Mar. 1, is also controversial because you can’t opt out of it. The new policy knocks down the fences that currently separate Google's many products.

Your search history, for example, will combine with information that Google has gathered about you in other products, such as YouTube and Google+. It creates a complete digital profile of your activity, and some people find that disturbing.

I'm personally not worried about the policy change itself, as I explain here. However, the amount of information Google collects and what it does with your information is definitely worth a moment of reflection.

In case you didn't know, Google records all the search terms you enter. Your search history can reveal a lot about you: your location, hobbies, age, health problems, religion and more. Google uses this data to improve and customize your searches, as well as to serve you targeted ads.

However, the information could also be very valuable to third-party advertisers, if Google ever decides to sell it. Google will also turn that information over to the government if the feds request it.

Google does allow you to partially wipe your search history and stop Google from recording it in the future. The process is fairly easy.

Go to https://www.google.com/history and sign in with your Google account information. You'll see a list of everything you've ever searched for with Google.

If you want to wipe everything, click the Remove All Web History button. Or you can select and remove individual search items.

When you remove all your history, it pauses the recording of future searches as well. If you want to pause the recording manually, there is a Pause button at the top of the Web history page.

There is a catch to all this, of course - your information isn't really gone. Google will still keep your "deleted" information for audits and other internal uses. However, it won't use it for targeted ads or to customize your search results.

After your Web history has been disabled for 18 months, the company will partially anonymize the data so you won't be associated with it. Isn't it great the way Google looks out for you?

You're probably not too hot on Google at the moment, and I don't blame you. If you're looking for alternatives to Google's products, I give you some options in this tip.

You can remove your data from other Google products by going to the data liberation page. Click on any product link to receive directions about how to download your data and delete it from Google's servers.

I consider it an important part of my mission to help you protect your privacy in this digital age. Here are a few more tips for keeping your personal information safe.

• If your company gives you a smartphone to use, it might also be monitoring you.Find out what your rights are in my column.
• Super cookies are designed to survive attempts to remove them. I tell you how to kill them for good in this tip.
• Many Internet problems can be avoided if you use strong passwords. Learn my system for creating unbreakable but memorable ones.